Some city residents who park their car on the street and leave town may return to find a bit of a surprise: Their car is gone.
Not because it?s stolen, but due to an expensive valet service, courtesy of city government. Any car parked more than 48 hours in the city is technically abandoned and subject to towing. Federal Hill resident Malcolm Boyd discovered the little-known city law the hard way.
“This has been pretty frustrating,” Boyd said. “I go away and come back to find my car was towed because the city said it was abandoned.”
The shock included more than a missing car: a hefty fine. Including the fee to retrieve his car from the impound lot, the total tab so far is $365. For Boyd, who moved downtown so he could walk to work, the premise that a car parked in the same spot more than 48 hours is abandoned doesn?t make sense.
“If the car?s got valid registration and [is] insured, that?s not an abandoned car. It seems like the criteria need to be changed,” he said.
Boyd, a lawyer, is fighting the ticket. But his girlfriend and fellow Federal Hill resident, Deborah Brown, is worried aboutthe couple?s upcoming vacation in August.
“We?re going away for two weeks,” she said. “We can?t afford to pay $400 every time the city decides to tow us.”
City Council Member Keiffer Jackson Mitchell, a Democrat whose 11th district includes parts of Federal Hill, has received complaints from other city residents and may have a solution. Mitchell introduced a bill in June to revamp the 48-hour rule by establishing a new criterion for determining if a car is abandoned.
“Right now the law is complaint driven,” he said. “With the competition for parking in Federal Hill, if your neighbor doesn?t like you, they call in a car as an abandoned vehicle.”
Mitchell said he is working with the city Department of Transportation to make the law more flexible. “If a car has proper registration and tags, it shouldn?t be towed,” he said.
Raquel Guillory, spokesman for Mayor Martin O?Malley, said the administration is reviewing the bill.
“Right now the mayor?s legislative staff is looking at Councilman Mitchell?s bill,” she said.
In the meantime, Brown said she complained directly to the mayor?s office, and was not pleased with the response. “I asked what I was supposed to do if I left town, and they told me to have someone watch my car,” she said.
“This is something little, but it?s annoying,” she said. “I was hoping for a little compassion.”
